I am working from that text, for the simple reason it makes no mention of a white-hilted knife. Any magician that knows diddly-squat should know the white-hilted knife can be used for anything EXCEPT drawing circles. That is what the black-hilted knife is for. It's what it was for in the Hygromanteia and subsequent texts. It is strange to me that The Book of Oberon calls for the circles to be drawn with a white-hilted knife. I almost think it's a test to see if you are annoyingly postmodern.

Now, I have not yet got all my Solomonic tools made. I need black cat's blood and young goose blood and hemlock juice and pimpernel juice, and other stuff that's just going to require more time than I have in the preparation for the Birto experiment. I'm the kind of weirdo that wants to collect or grow my own pimpernel juice rather than order it from someone who would be more of a wizard than myself in that case. So, there is an easy solution to this.

The place I'm working in, I will need to use chalk. I know - I know - I heard Dr. Skinner on Greg's marijuana show too. Nevertheless, The Book of Treasure Spirits plainly says the earthen ground is best, followed by calf-skin parchment, followed by chalk upon it or upon a floor. So chalk upon the floor is what I will use. The good chalk you find at your local Wiccan store... Or maybe I'll make it myself... In any case, it will need to be exorcised along with the water to wash your face with at the end. Also, you'll need to take a bath before beginning. I hope you have Skinner's books by now. Fasting would be good too.

Now. Gordon's Grimoire Course calls for it to be done June 08. This is due to Hygromanteia timing that you should have learned about in the Gordon's Sigil Course. Not only that, but also for astrological reasons given in the latest The Astrology Podcast. I have a problem here because June 08 is Lunar Day 15. In all the places you find instructions for the Birto experiment you find that it is to be done on either the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 10th or 12th Lunar Day of the Month as the Moon is Waxing. I haven't made up my mind about this. I don't have much time to decide... If nothing else, I'll wait until June 28. I'll see how the spirit moves me...

One interesting thing is that The Book of Treasure Spirits is VERY CLEAR about the circles being 3 feet apart. There is some strange wording thereafter about height and shadow and stuff. Make sure the circles are EXACTLY 3 feet apart. You've been warned.

There is a depiction in the book of two circles with a dragon in between them. I believe I'm reading it right that the effigy or image of the dragon does not go into the circle where Birto appears. This to me would suggest something, maybe. Birto is not the dragon. I know there is a story in the book Tales of the Horrible, Or The Book of Spirits where Birto appears as a dragon first, then a horrible black knight, but I do not think he is the dragon. Perhaps he is. I'll know better afterwords.

OK, so now the script.

LIRP - because I have done it for so long, it has become mine. I imprint my astral temple upon the ritual space as I perform it. It's like coming home.

Confession which the Exorcist must do and Recite (From The Little Key or Key of Solomon, King of the Hebrews, found in Skinner's Veritable Key, First Book, Chapter 4)

I confess and lament my sins to Thee, Oh Lord, bowed down and humbled in Thy presence, because I have sinned before Thee through pride, envy, and greed, excessive desires, as much for honours as well as riches; by idleness, gluttony, greediness and drunkenness, because I have offended Thee in my thighs and my secret parts, by all sorts of sins of the flesh, by my adulteries and the pollution which I have afflicted upon myself and which I have consented for others to do, by my sacrilege and by the bad examples I have set, by my extravagances, and by the faults I have committed against charity for the poor, and by not making visits to prisoners, by not giving food to those who hunger, by not giving drink to those who thirst, by not solemnising the Sabbath and other holy feast days, by not living piously on these days, by not respecting my parents, by disregarding my elders, by being present at prayers in the Temple of God with an improper bearing, by ridiculing the ceremonies, in short by my negligence in my prayers or in chanting of my prayers and the Psalms.

I detest, Oh my God, the crimes which I have committed, my evil thoughts, my false supicions, I detest my bad judgments for the evil consents which I have awarded myself, favouring the advice of the impious, by the concupiscence in sensual and indecent pleasures, by my vain words, my lies and my falseness, by my false judgments of all sorts. I detest the crimes which I have committed by my treachery, the discord which I have sown, my impious curiosity and my false witnesses, the violence I have committed, the curses I have uttered, the rumours I have spread, my unproductive words and the insults I have spoken, my deceit, by the transgression which I have committed against the Commandments, by the absence of the love of God and of my neighbor. Likewise, I detest the great sins which I have committed by my senses, by hearing, by taste, by sight, by smell and by touch. I confess that I have sinned and acknowledge that I am before God the most criminal of men, I accuse myself of all before Thee, I adore all the Holy Angels and the children of God in all humility and in the presence of whom, I publish my faults, so that the malevolent spirits may not reproach me with anything at the final day. But to the contrary, let there be rejoicing in Heaven on my account, just as there is for other just people. Grant by Thy mercy that I be able to see and recognise all the Spirits which I shall invoke, so that by their means, I may see my fulfilled desires by Thy Sovereign Grandeur, and by Thy eternal and constant Glory, Thou, who art and wilt be without end, a Holy and Ineffable Father.

Lord God, all powerful, eternal and father of all Creatures, pour out on me and let me feel the effects of thy Mercy and Graciousness, as much as I am Thy Creature, defend me from my enemies, and confirm in me a steadfast and secure devotion, Oh Lord, I commend my body and soul to Thee and I place my hope only in Thee. I found it on Thee alone, Oh Lord my God, aid me and grant my wishes on that day or hour when I may invoke Thee, be Thou my succour and give me a new heart according to your mercy, these are the gifts which I await from Thee, Oh my Master and my God who livest and reignest unto the Ages of the Ages. So Mot It Be.

Conjuration (Found in David Rankine's The Book of Treasure Spirits)

I Exorcise, Call upon & Conjure thee spirit which artCalled Birto, by the Dignity of thy prince Ornotheos andBooth, and in the name of the Father & of the Son & of theHoly Ghost, and by the power of those potent, inestimable,Divine and Commanding names, of the almighty & EverlivingGod Jehovah, El, Elohim, Sabaoth, Adonay,Tetragrammaton, Alpha & omega, and in the name ofJesus of Nazareth, bom of a Virgin, the only Begotten Son ofGod The Father Almighty maker of heaven & Earth, our onlySaviour & Redeemer, advocate & mediator, whose name theCelestial Host of Angels honour & obey, and whereat allKnees on Earth do bow, & all the Aerial terrestrial & infemalspirits Do fear & tremble, by all Aforesaid,I do yet again powerfully Exorcise, Conjure andCommand thee spirit which art Called Birto, that thou Doimmediately forthwith, and at the present, appear Visiblybefore me, in that Circle appointed for thee, in fair & humanform & shape of a man, and no ways terrible or hurtful to me,or any other person whatsoever & I Constrain thee to tell methe truth and verily, of all such things as J shall Ask &Demand of thee without fraud, guile & Deceit &c: in his name,to whom be all honour, power, Glory & might, majesty &Dominion for Ever & Ever Amen.

Repeat this with much courage and force of will until the spirit makes itself known.

License to Depart & Binding (Veritable Key)

In the Name of the Eternal Adonay, or Everlasting God, let each of you return to your place, whence you came and let there be peace forever between yourselves and ourselves. But from now on, be ready to come at my commandment.

Ask Birto to swear on the book which you have all this written in that he will come every time he is called.

Berashith Bara Elohim.... In the beginning God created* the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw* the light, that it was good: and God divided* the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life*, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Exit the circle, wash your face with exorcised water, and 15 minutes later change out of your ritual clothes.